Tag: English

Ginger & Rosa tells the story of two seventeen-year-old girls who are coming of age in England, 1962. With the creation of the atomic bomb, mankind had finally unlocked the power to obliterate all living things from the planet. The older generations have survived two world wars and even though the threat of the bomb scares them, they have seen enough truly horrible things and probably take this atom bomb business with a grain of salt. For the youth, what is the point of planning and preparing for a future that might not exist? Seventy years later, we still live with the threat of total and complete nuclear annihilation. It isn’t talked about as much these days, but the bombs still exist, the threat is still there. America is the only country that was foolish enough to drop one of these monstrosities, and even though they now reside in the power and control of some truly demented and psychotic individuals, they do not poses the threat in our hearts that they once did. I suppose one could say that there is a human fail safe, something that prevents one from destroying too many. Even the ruthless have parameters. The parents in this movie fear the bomb, but not in the way that the children do. They are aware of those parameters. They know the bottomless well that is mankind’s evil, but they also know that life goes on. Preparing the next batch is possibly the only way one can conquer evil.

In 1964 a group of seven-year old children were interviewed for the documentary “Seven Up.” They’ve been filmed every seven years since. NOW THEY ARE 56.

The Up Series by Michael Apted is one of the most fascinating documents of the human existence. It was started in 1964 by Granada Television as a showcase of fourteen children from different socio and economic backgrounds of Britain. Michael Apted was a researcher on the program (called Seven Up!) and selected the children with the help of Gordon McDougall. The director of Seven Up! was Paul Almond and the opening of the program gives us an idea of the goal, “Why do we bring these children together? Because we want to get a glimpse of England in the year 2000. The union leader and the business executive of the year 2000 are now seven years old.” That idea is actually based on the Jesuit teachings of Francis Xavier, “Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man.” Seven years after Seven Up! Michael Apted followed up with the participants in Seven Plus Seven (1971) and has ever seven years since. Not all fourteen kids have participated in every single installment, Charles bowed out after 21 Up (1977) and hasn’t participated since. Peter claimed that he was done with the project after 28 Up (1984), but thankfully he came back for 56 Up. John missed 28 Up & 42 Up (1998), and Symon skipped 35 Up (1991), and with the exception of Charles, everyone showed up for 56 Up. This is probably due to maturity. The importance and relevance of the program has revealed itself, and now they embrace it closer than they ever could before.

Did he train you? Did he rehearse you? Did he tell you exactly what to do, what to say? You were a very apt pupil too, weren’t you? Scottie’s questions at the climax of Vertigo do more to illuminate the inner workings of the film’s director than the entire ninety minutes that is The Girl. Hailed as Alfred Hitchcock’s masterwork, Vertigo (1958) stars James Stewart as Scottie, a man in love with a woman, or his idea of a woman. He loses the first woman and then finds another woman just like her. Scottie does whatever he can to recreate her in … Continue reading THE GIRL

Seven Psychopaths is writer/director Martin McDonagh’s second feature film. McDonagh, probably best know as a playwright, debut feature, In Bruges (2008), was critically accepted and doubled its budget in sales. In Bruges starred Colin Farrell, who takes the role of the central character, Marty, in this film as well. Marty is a screenwriter who is also dealing with a pretty serious case of alcoholism, he is rarely seen without a drink in his hand. It is later pointed out by Marty’s friend that it’s in his nature to be an alcoholic, he is a writer and Irish, two strikes against him. In real life, Farrell … Continue reading SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS